It had been a month since Kurosuchi had shown his experiments to Sakura, and he had made some great breakthroughs since then. He'd come up with new theories, and now needed to get Tsunade's permission to start testing on larger, maybe even mammal subjects. He had been going to all of his therapy sessions and has had nothing but good reports from his supervisors, so it shouldn't be a big problem.
Once inside the office building, it took a while to get in to see the Hokage. Apparently there was a long line of people wanting to see her about hiring special ninja for their missions, and that was nothing Kurosuchi could do anything about. It took Kurosuchi almost forty-five minuets to finally get to the office, and when he entered he was greeted with an angry Tsunade. "Why the hell aren't you going to your therapy session?" asked Tsunade.
Kurosuchi tried calming her down before asking for her to look over his reports by saying, "I can still make it on time, Tsunade-sama. I would have been here a little sooner if your halls weren't so crowded as well. I just came to give you the reports on my research and to ask you . . ."
Tsunade cut him off saying, "I don't have time to look through your reports right now. Just bring them back next week. I'm going on a break now, and don't try to stop me Shizune!" Tsunade's personal assistant and apprentice was about to tell her to get back to work, but after such harsh words decided against it. Kurosuchi was about to protest and demand that Tsunade read his reports, when Naruto (the village idiot) dropped through the ceiling right on top of him. Tsunade stopped to watch as the two ninja on the floor tried pushing each other off of the other, and then gave a very short laugh. Tsunade lost her good humor when Naruto yelled that he wanted a mission and that the line was too long, so he'd broken in. It looked for a second like Tsunade might throw the closest piece of furniture at him, but then she stopped and looked at Kurosuchi.
"Fine," she said to Naruto. "Your next mission is to escort Kurosuchi over there to his therapy session and then take him home. You'll watch him throughout the night and make sure he doesn't do anything his doctor tells him not to. Now go away and good bye." As both Naruto and Kurosuchi's mouths hit the floor, Shizune wrote up a very quick yet official mission for Naruto to follow. After handing it to Naruto, she ran out of the room to follow Tsunade and make sure she didn't just run out on all of the work that still needed to be done.
Naruto and Kurosuchi walked out of the office together without saying a word. On the way to the psychiatrist's office, Naruto asked, "Why do you need to go to therapy? Did you get injured real bad like Fuzzy Brows?"
Even though he didn't know who Naruto meant, Kurosuchi told him, "No, I don't need physical therapy, I need mental therapy. Everyone here thinks I'm crazy." Naruto looked kind of puzzled.
"Well, are you?"
Kurosuchi stopped walking for a second and looked Naruto in the eye and said, "I don't know."
Naruto definitely didn't look so sure of himself at the moment. 'Maybe I shouldn't have taken this mission. As if I had a choice in the matter!' he thought to himself.
Once at the Psychologist's office, Naruto looked at the mission forms he received. It looked as though he was supposed to go in with Kurosuchi into the therapy session, but he wasn't sure if it was an error by Shizune because of the rush she was in. Naruto didn't have much time to think about it when the doctor came out and called Kurosuchi into the office. Unsure of exactly what to do, Naruto followed them in. Once inside the office, Kurosuchi sat in the large leather chair while the doctor sat behind the desk. The doctor then noticed that Naruto had followed them in. After asking what he was doing there, Kurosuchi told the doctor that Naruto was there as an official escort and that he was aloud to stay during the session. Looking kind of skeptical about it, but thinking it best to follow the official orders from the desk of Tsunade (as Naruto's mission scroll put it), the doctor aloud Naruto to stay but asked for him not to speak while in the office. The doctor then called for the medical staff with a small speaker box on his desk. While they waited for the medical staff, the doctor gave Kurosuchi some pills and water and started to put out scrolls onto his desk. Once he found the scroll he was looking for, the medical staff had arrived and they started to give Kurosuchi an injection and set up an IV drip by the chair. They then strapped his arms and legs to the chair. Seeing his confusion, the Doctor told Naruto, "We have to put Kurosuchi into a state in which he will be forced to tell the truth. There is a space in his memory that is completely blank, and we can't have him just making up stories to please us like he did when he was younger. In order to get the truth, we have to just keep going back to his past and try and force his brain to remember what happened." With that, the doctor excused all but one of the medics, and then sat down in a chair right next to Kurosuchi. The medic made a few seals with his hands and then placed his hands over Kurosuchi's eyes. The doctor then started speaking to Kurosuchi. "Can you hear me," he asked. Kurosuchi nodded. "I need you to tell me that you can hear me."
Kurosuchi had his eyes closed and said, "Yes." It sounded very weak as if he were really sick or hadn't spoken for a long time.
"Good," the doctor said, "then why don't we start with you telling me about your past once again. Start with the day your parents went into your room without your permission." Then Kurosuchi started his tale, once again:
I was playing outside with my friends. No, that's not right. I had no friends, I was playing by myself. I watched the frogs swimming in the pond and I wanted to catch one and study it like I had the others. I decided not to. I thought I would go outside later in the evening when mom and dad were asleep so that they wouldn't see. Once my parents were asleep, I went back to the pond to try and catch some frogs to study. When I got back home it had been about two hours, and I had caught many frogs and toads to study off of, but all was not well. My parent had not been asleep when I left and they had gone into the cellar which I left unlocked. They looked around to try and find out why I was such a loner, and what they found on cellar floor shocked them. What they found was my mini-freezer filled with small creatures I had dissected, studied, and frozen. When I entered the room, my parents started crying and asked me again and again why I would do such a thing. I didn't know how to answer them. I should have told them something, but I didn't know what. Instead I told them that it was none of their business and tried to push them out of my room so that I could study the frogs. My father, however, would not let me continue what I was doing and decided to throw away my tools and consult a doctor. He was a doctor himself and had to make sure that his reputation was not ruined because of my behavior. There were doctors in the hospital at all times and my father knew almost all them, so it was no trouble setting up a time the next day to see a psychiatrist. No amount of arguing helped my parents to see that what I was doing was not wrong, and I was forced to see the psychiatrist the next day.
I sat in the doctor's office for over an hour, refusing to answer any of his questions. He had the animals I had researched and was using them in his questions. Why I did it, when I started doing it, why didn't I tell anyone about it, the questions went on and on. Finally, the doctor gave up. He was looking through my files and then talked to my parents for another hour. I guessed they had allowed the doctor to use a jutsu to force the answers out of me, but I wasn't going to go out without a fight. I fought with any doctor trying to get me strapped into the chair. Even my own father was trying to get me, but I fought him too. When I was forced into the chair and strapped down, the doctor put his hand on my head and…and…nn…an….an…nnng….nnngh!!!
Kurosuchi was having what looked like a seizure. He was thrusting in the chair, like he was desperately trying to get out, and he was yelling at the top of his lungs.
"Damn it!" said the doctor, "It's happening again! Quickly nurse, give him a sedative and make sure he doesn't bite his tongue!" Naruto watched as the nurses started running around with needles and straps trying to keep Kurosuchi from hurting himself and was amazed at what had just happened. Without saying a word, Naruto waited a total of only three minutes until the nurses had secured Kurosuchi, and Kurosuchi was still talking about his past, but now he was talking about his time in an orphanage. The doctor sighed and looked at Naruto. He then started by explaining, "This is the part of the story that he can remember again. We haven't been able to force his brain to remember what had happened during the time before what he's saying now and after he starts having a fit. Now he'll finish telling the story up until he's accepted into the ninja academy then wake up after another hour. You'll probably have to stay here until he wakes up." Naruto really didn't want to stay in the doctor's office for very much longer and asked if the doctor knew where Kurosuchi lived.
The doctor told him that the address was probably on file, so Naruto said, "Well then if you don't mind, I can carry him back to his house so that you can use the office. What do you think?" The doctor hardly had to think at all before getting Naruto the address and directions to Kurosuchi's home. He knew that Naruto was on a mission to watch over Kurosuchi anyways, so he should be able to trust him.
A few hours later…
Kurosuchi awoke, and knew where he should be. He would open his eyes and see the usual abstract poster that his doctor had on his wall, then he would have to call the nurses to untie him from the chair. However, before he opened his eyes, Kurosuchi took a small breath and noticed that he was not in his doctor's office. The office always smelled funny to Kurosuchi, and the smell he now noticed was very familiar. 'Why am I home?' he wondered to himself. He slowly opened his eyes and figured that he was in his own bed and that he was alone in the room. He then slowly stood and figured out that he was still fully dressed, but that his weapon pouch and backpack were missing. He then listened to the floor for footsteps in the house but heard none. He did, however, hear the TV in the other room on and smelled something like soup coming from downstairs. Had he been kidnapped? Kurosuchi didn't know who brought him home, but he was sure he was still in the house. As he was quietly exiting his room, Kurosuchi then thought that there might have been more than one person that had brought him back…but why? Why would they bring him here, and why would they not tie him up or something? Maybe they were just bringing him home…but it's better to be safe than sorry. Kurosuchi crawled down the stairs trying to find the perpetrator, trying to stay out of sight. He went to the kitchen before going to the living room where the TV was so that he could arm himself. While in the kitchen, Kurosuchi learned that the person in his home had helped himself to at least three cups of ramen that he had been saving for when he was too busy to cook. Kurosuchi then picked up one of his chef knives and started to sneak into the living room where the TV was on.
Upon entering the living room, Kurosuchi was glad that the lights were off and that the couch was moved to face the TV, away from the door. He then noticed the guy was still on the couch watching a show with a stand up comic. Kurosuchi couldn't see the face of the person, but he knew that he was awake and watching the show. He also saw that the guy was eating yet another bowl of ramen. Not wanting to take any chances, Kurosuchi decided to take the offensive.
Kurosuchi jumped in front of the TV and started a genjutsu that would hopefully catch the perpetrator off guard. He was unable to see his enemy because of the lighting, but he was able to catch him in the genjutsu.
Naruto had been watching a comedian on the TV and eating some ramen when someone jumped in front of him. Naruto knew it was Kurosuchi but still was taken back when he was confronted in such a manner. He would have tried to explain why he was watching Kurosuchi's TV and eating his ramen, but by the time he was starting to think strait, he suddenly felt an instant chill. The TV went dim and the outline of Kurosuchi went transparent and then disappeared. In his confusion, Naruto almost didn't notice that he was sinking into the floor. Naruto started to panic and tried to get off the couch and run for the door, but he tripped and fell into the mud-like floor. Not able to see, and feeling himself sinking into the ground, Naruto started to scream and struggle into the mud. Suddenly, Naruto felt something fall onto his back, and then something cold and sharp against his throat. He then felt the shocking sensation of chakra being forced into his body, and then heard a familiar voice saying, "Don't move." The floor was no longer made of mud, and the TV was clear and bright again, but now there was someone on his back holding a knife to his throat.
It wasn't long before the two sorted out what had happened and Naruto was back on the couch and Kurosuchi was sitting next to him watching the comedian. He wasn't very interested in the comedy, but he didn't know what else to do. Without the consent of the Hokage, he wasn't able to proceed in his research any further than he had already. After watching the rest of the comedian's stand up routine Kurosuchi decided to clean up the kitchen after Naruto. Naruto wanted to ask him about what he had heard in the doctor's office so he followed him into the kitchen. Naruto seated himself on the floor near the table and started by asking Kurosuchi about the animals found dissected in the cellar. Kurosuchi didn't want to have to show Naruto the entire experiment like he had with Sakura, so instead he just told him that it was just teenage angst. Naruto was puzzled by this answer and didn't think he was telling the truth. He then asked about why he was going to therapy for. Kurosuchi stopped washing the dishes and was silent for a moment. He then said, "Everyone thinks I killed my parents."
Naruto went silent himself for a moment, but then went on to ask, "Did you?" He asked this almost knowing that he was going to say no, but was surprised when that wasn't the case.
"I don't know." Kurosuchi's answer was confusing Naruto immensely. How could someone not know if they killed their own parents or not? When he asked this to Kurosuchi, Kurosuchi asked, "Were you in the room when I was telling my story?" Naruto nodded. "Then you should know that my mind is blank for a period of time, and then I'm suddenly being put into an orphanage. That's all I know. I was I therapy, and then my parents were dead. I don't know how they died and neither does anyone else. Their bodies were never found. But for some reason, everyone thought it was me. I'm supposed to be a crazy person who would do anything to anyone for any reason, and that's why I go to therapy and am watched over by other ninjas almost every night." Again, Naruto was silent. He wasn't sure what to think of Kurosuchi. Was he a killer? Was he crazy? When can he leave this all behind him? But then it dawned on Naruto that if Kurosuchi didn't even know what happened, and yet people treated him as if he did, then he was almost like Naruto himself. Taunted for no apparent reason throughout childhood and never given a chance. He started to feel bad for Kurosuchi. Kurosuchi looked at Naruto, and then said, "I have a guest room upstairs. You can use that while you're here, but I'm leaving early tomorrow morning, so you'll have to be out by then." Naruto nodded, and then followed Kurosuchi up to his room.
